Readers’ Top 10 Transgender Stories of 2013

THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — [Originally published in The Huffington Post] During 2013, I wrote approximately 250 articles for The Guerrilla Angel Report, the vast majority of them transgender-related. The following are the 10 most read stories of the year:

10. Guessing gender for unwanted intersex baby ends up in cut off penis: An unwanted child ended up in the hands of the South Carolina Department of Social Services following his birth. At 16 months, the state decided the child was a girl and had his penis surgically removed as they looked for a permanent home for him.

9. Mayor orders arrested trans woman to undress, photographed naked at Lebanese city hall: Following the shutdown of a night club, several trans people were brought to city hall to be stripped and photographed. Dekwaneh mayor Antoine Shakhtoura: “Of course we made them take off their clothes. We saw a scandalous situation and we had to know what these people were. Is it a woman or a man? Turned out to be a half woman and half man. I do not accept this in Dekwaneh.”

8. Human Rights Campaign owns up to transgender flag blunder: Following an internet firestorm triggered by the HRC back in April when they asked a transgender activist to remove a trans pride flag during a marriage equality event in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, the organization issued an official apology.

7. Having sex after gender reassignment surgery is ‘satisfactory’ for most says new study: A study presented by Dr. Maria Helena Palma Sircili suggested sex is satisfactory for trans people following surgery with most being able to achieve orgasms.

5. Arizona legislature to consider making it a crime for trans people to use “opposite sex” bathrooms without proper paperwork: Arizona state Rep. John Kavanagh (R), said he made the proposal because “we don’t want to have young girls in women’s locker rooms being exposed to basically biological men in a state of undress.” Although the bill was eventually killed, Kavanagh vows to bring it back in 2014.

4. Public ridicule results in airport’s apology to trans woman: ‘That’s a guy’ said one airport greeter out loud to another, while pointing at a trans woman walking through an airport terminal. Following a complaint, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority issued an official apology to the woman.

3. Indigo Girls tell Womyn’s Festival to include trans women or else!: The Indigo Girls tell the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival that unless they change their policy of excluding trans women they will no longer perform at the festival.

2. Researchers find gender far from fixed in the embryo, sex cells must be actively prevented from changing: Researchers say the assumption that ‘once the sex determination decision is made in the embryo, it’s final’ is false and that ‘sex determination in mammals can be surprisingly prone to change, and must be actively maintained throughout an organism’s lifetime.’

1. FOX News’ transphobic mocking reaches all time high: Triggered by California’s K-12 trans equality bill, the door at FOX News swung wide open for the host and anchors to unleash transphobic rants and mocking of trans people.